OTHER VOICES: Veterans offer quality skill set for tire industry

Most veterans have all of the soft skills and many of the hard skills that you look for in a new hire.

What if I told you that there are tens of thousands of candidates with the following attributes:

Mature beyond their years;

Will never complain;

Are learning agile;

Don't care how sexy their industry is;

they just care about winning;

Understand technology;

Led large teams;

Responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment;

Worked in teams in high- pressure environments;

Have received both formal and informal education; and

Are resilient and will never quit.

These candidates do exist: Transitioning veterans.

These men and women leave the military with all of the soft skills and many of the hard skills that you look for in a new hire.

This isn't a patriotic plug to hire veterans. Do a Google search for Fortune 500 companies that are raving about their success stories from hiring veterans.

Why do so many veterans become CEOs or founders of companies? Because they have invaluable experience.

Why do companies in the industry struggle to hire vets? Generally, because they are overlooked as non-qualified, or companies don't see transferable skill sets.

To be honest, most veterans I have worked with don't need much training; they are used to being given broad guidance and running with it. We need to open our eyes to this new space.

I am not saying you should look at every veteran as a potential employee. I am saying you should look at the right ones, and vet them correctly.

All employees, including veterans, should try out for the job, just as players try out for NFL teams. Veterans are used to tryouts, as the military puts candidates through rigorous tryouts for virtually every important job.

Have you ever seen a Navy admiral writing articles about the talent gap in the Navy SEAL community? Of course not. They heavily vet their employees before hiring them.

Recently, we have partnered with other veterans and were discussing how some industries welcome veterans, while others don't and continue to have talent issues. That is why we recently founded a vetting platform for veterans by veterans.

It's a 10-day intensive course that runs veterans through simulated corporate environments and vets them for high potential. I believe this process can lower hesitance to hire veterans, as we are confirming they can actually perform before you hire them.

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Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].